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1930s Signed DOUGLAS DOLPHIN Flying Boat PILOT WALTER SEILER Wilmington Catalina
$ 176.52
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Description
4598-XFile-4The first two Douglas Dolphin's were purchased by Wilmington-Catalina Airlines to fly passengers between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island, becoming the first successful Douglas airliners. This photo shows Dolphin Model 1 as it is one of the initial two Dolphins built for the Wilmington-Catalina Airline Ltd. as six-seat airliners. NC14204 was the flagship of the early Wilmington-Catalina Airline fleet.
NC14204 was Chief Pilot Walter Seiler's favorite and was the most photographed of the airline's Dolphins. Roughly 9 out of 10 publicity photographs of the airline you will see feature NC14204 as the subject. This beautiful 8x10 photograph was taken at Catalina Airport in the mid 1930s when aircraft and pilot were in their prime. The logo of the Wilmington-Catalina Airline can be seen on it's nose. Signed in pen by Walter Seiler at lower right. His co-pilot can be seen in the cockpit.
With the advent of WWII, a number of Catalina Air Transport planes were appropriated by the U.S. Army. This was one of them. On September 1, 1942, Seiler ferried NC14204 to Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank where she was officially handed over to the Army.